Studio: MGM Cartoons / Rudolf Ising Productions
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Produced by: Rudolf Ising
Short Synopsis
A grey house cat named Jasper is amusing himself by tormenting a small mouse, pinning him by the tail every time he tries to run. The mouse slips free, straight into Jasper's mouth, and escapes again. Jasper draws a fake mouse hole on the wall; the mouse runs into it head first and knocks himself out, and Jasper revives him with water from the fishbowl. When the mouse realises what is happening, he punches Jasper in the eye. Jasper chases him, crashes into a pedestal and brings down the flowerpot on top of it. The maid, Mammy Two Shoes, scolds him and issues an ultimatum: break one more thing and he's out of the house. The mouse immediately sees his advantage. He starts pushing glasses, plates and dishes off shelves, and Jasper has to dive and catch each one before it hits the floor. Finally the mouse drops a pile of plates, they smash, and Jasper is thrown out of the house. The mouse retires into his hole, after first hanging a "Not to be disturbed" sign.
Why It Matters
- The ultimatum turns the chase into a game of tactics. Once the mouse realises he can make the cat take the blame for everything he breaks, the power shifts, and the frantic plate-catching sequence is built on precisely the reversal that would define the series for decades.
- It is the first Tom and Jerry cartoon. MGM executives were unimpressed, but audiences loved it and it was nominated for the Academy Award, losing to another MGM cartoon, The Milky Way. Hanna and Barbera were allowed to continue, renamed the characters, and won seven Oscars with them.
Notes and Trivia
- As was MGM practice, only Rudolf Ising was credited on screen; Hanna and Barbera directed it.
- The cat is called Jasper here; the mouse is unnamed, though an MGM magazine called him Pee-Wee.
- See also: The Milky Way (1940).